The memorial for Dr. Monica Quartermaine, played by the late Leslie Charleson<\/a>, on General Hospital<\/a><\/em> would not have been complete without the presence of Genie Francis<\/a>, whose character, Laura Webber Collins, has a rich and loving history with Monica.<\/p>\n Francis combined Laura\u2019s roles as both the mayor of Port Charles and her being Monica\u2019s dear pal and delivered a poignant performance that has earned the Daytime Emmy<\/a> winner this week\u2019s TV Insider Performer of the Week honors.<\/p>\n Prior to the service beginning, Laura greeted Jason (Steve Burton<\/a>), Monica\u2019s son, and not only gave him her personal condolences, but she also noted that Monica\u2019s role at General Hospital made her a respected figure in Port Charles.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s impossible to overstate how important a pillar of this community your mother was,\u201d Laura said. \u201cShe was right at the heart of it all. I respected her more than I can say. She\u2019s also a friend of mine. I\u2019ll miss her a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n Laura let Jason know that her mother, Lesley (Denise Alexander<\/a>), wasn\u2019t able to be at the memorial because she\u2019d caught a bug and couldn\u2019t travel. The legendary rivalry between Monica and Lesley was instrumental in propelling the serial to the top spot in the ratings. The dynamic deserved to be acknowledged, and kudos to GH<\/em> for doing so. Francis was tasked with playing on-screen that Lesley is still with us, but sadly, Alexander also passed away this year.<\/p>\n ABC<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When Laura got to the podium to speak, Francis dug deep into the history Laura and Monica shared to give a proper tribute to her pal, bringing some peace to those who loved her in the process. The characters didn\u2019t interact a great deal after Francis returned to the show in 1993, however when Monica went through her breast cancer ordeal, Laura made sure to visit her. GH<\/em> provided a nice flashback scene from that time in the episode, which reminded viewers of the long-running friendship between the two women.<\/p>\n As close as Monica and her late husband Alan (Stuart Damon<\/a>) came to divorcing each other back in the early 1980s, that never happened (at least not back then). Laura answered why that was the case in her eulogy.<\/p>\n